Static variable usage

there is a drupal wrapper for static variables: drupal_static()

  1. $my_static_var = &drupal_static(__FUNCTION__);
  2. if (!isset($my_static_var)) {
  3.   $my_static_var = 'hello';
  4. }
  5.  
  6. // and to reset it
  7. drupal_static_reset($my_static_var);

Display errors - WSOD

The bootstrap override the values you could set to display error ad the reporting level. To be 100% sure everything is printed out when something fails in a blank screen (wsod), make index.php like this:

Properly render a field

Drupal offers a few (sometimes complicated...) solutions to output a field. Lets take an example with a date field.
To display the full rendered field: field_view_field()

Using once()

ensure ajax reload don't apply the behaviours for items already processed

Change the theme

Programmatically change the theme on runtime by implementing hook_custom_theme()

Manually clear caches

for views and panels

Add a Jquery ui library

get the library names to use in /misc/ui folder

Embed a custom page

Get the rendered output of a custom page created with page manager (ctools) module

Embed a mini panel

Get the html output of a mini-panel

alter / automatize the install process

in the .profile file of the install profile (here "mysnippet" profile)

Aegir: perform custom tasks after a new site is installed

in a custom module, in a file called mysnippet.drush.inc (keep in mind that the install process is handled by drush...)

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